ent were the Cardinal de la Vallette and Mazarin,
with Chavigny, and the Marechal de Vitry, anxious to avoid the Bastille,
with which it was said he was threatened.

Two coaches followed for the Cardinal's secretaries, physicians, and
confessor; then eight others, each with four horses, for his gentlemen,
and twenty-four mules for his luggage. Two hundred musketeers on foot
marched close behind him, and his company of men-at-arms of the guard
and his light-horse, all gentlemen, rode before and behind him on
splendid horses.

Such was the equipage in which the prime minister proceeded to
Perpignan; the size of the litter often made it necessary to enlarge the
roads, and knock down the walls of some of the towns and villages on the
way, into which it could not otherwise enter, "so that," say the authors
and manuscripts of the time, full of a sincere admiration for all this
luxury--"so that he seemed a conqueror entering by the breach." We have
sought in vain with great care in these documents, for any account of
proprietors or inhabitants of these dwellings so making room for his
passage who shared in this admiration; but we have been unable to find
any mention of such.

CHAPTER VIII. THE INTERVIEW

The pompous cortege of the Cardinal halted at the beginning of the camp.
All the armed troops were drawn up in the finest order; and amid the
sound of cannon and the music of each regiment the litter traversed a
long line of cavalry and infantry, formed from the outermost tent to
that of the minister, pitched at some distance from the royal quarters,
and which its purple covering distinguished at a distance. Each general
of division obtained a nod or a word from the Cardinal, who at length
reaching his tent and, dismissing his train, shut himself in, waiting
for the time to present himself to the King. But, before him, every
person of his escort had repaired thither individually, and, without
entering the royal abode, had remained in the long galleries covered
with striped stuff, and arranged as became avenues leading to the
Prince. The courtiers walking in groups, saluted one another and shook
hands, regarding each other haughtily, according to their connections or
the lords to whom they belonged. Others whispered together, and showed
signs of astonishment, pleasure, or anger, which showed that something
extraordinary had taken place. Among a thousand others, one singular
dialogue occurred in a corner of the princip